Lubricating system for the power plant of an automobile



Sept. 20; 1932.

H. D. CHURCH LUBRICATING SYSTEM FOR THE POWER PLANT OF AN AUTOMOBILE Filed Oct. 28. 1929 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEY Sept. 20-, 1932. H. D. CHURCH 1,378,379

LUBRICATING SYSTEM FOR THE POWER PLANT OF AN AUTOMOBILE Filed Oct. 28, 1929 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR HAROLD D. CHURCH 52 ATTORN Y Sept. 20, 1932. H. D. CHURCH 1,878,379

LUBRICATING SYSTEM FOR THE POWER PLANT OF AN AUTOOBILE 'Filed Oct. 28. 1929 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 ATTORNEY f Sept. 20, 1932. H. D. CHURCH LUBRICATING SYSTEM FOR THE POWER PLANT OF AN AUTOMOBILE Filed 001:. 28, 1929 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 H v INVENTOR HAROLD D. CHURCH ATTORNEY Patented Sept. 7 20, 1932 [UNITED STATES PATENT ori ice HAROLD n. CHURCH, or CLEVELAND, OHIO, Assieuon mo. THE WHITE MOTOR ooivr IPANY, or onnvninnn, 01110, A CORPORATION or orr'ro y LUBRICATING SYSTEM non THE rownn'rtnu'ror an no'roivroisrnn Application filed October 28, 1929. Serial No. 403,015.

This invention relates to alubricating system for the power plant of an automobile.

It is an object of this invention to provide a simple and efficient circulatory lubricating 5 system for the engine, clutch, and transmisslon of an automobile. 7 It is a further object ofv this invention to provide a lubricating system for the transmission of an automobile which will efiect ii) an efficient lubrication of the wearing surfaces thereof by means of a light lubricant such as that commonly used in the lubricating system of an internal combustion engine. Other objects will hereinafter appear; The invention itself will be more readily understood from the description of one practical embodiment thereof, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevational view of the 2 power plant of an automobile, certain parts being broken away in order .to show the'in ternal mechanism.

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the power plant illustrated in Figure 1, certain parts V being broken away in the interest of clarity.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary on line 33 of Figure 2. V

Figure 4: is a fragmentary vertical section on line 4-4 of Figure'2.

Figure 5 is a fragmentary vertical section on line 55 of Figure 2.

Figure 6 is a vertical section on of Figure 2.

Figure 7 is a fragmentary vertical section on line 77 of Figure 2.

Figure 8 is a fragmentary top plan view of the rear end of the bottom section of the transmission case.

vertical section line 6-3 Figure 9 is a vertical section on the line 4 9-9 of Figure 8.

Figure 10 is a longitudinal section ofthe bottom section'of the transmission case, the plane of the section being'indicated by the line 1010 of Figure 9, and

tion of line 1111of F igure 2. i

The powerplant disclosed in the drawings consists of an engine 10, a clutch 11, and a transmission 12; The engine 10 isof a more or less conventional type, and comprises a vmember 32 is formed with lateral trunnions Figure 11 is a fragmentary vertical seccrank shaft 13 and a cam shaft 14 mounted with the engine crank case 15 in bearings 16 and 17, respectively. Secured to the bottom of the crank case there is an oil pan 18 adapted to hold a supply of oil for lubricating the 5 wearing surfaces of the engine, clutch, and transmission. Mounted on theside wall of the crank case 15 superadjacent the oil pan 18, there is an oil pump 19 operatively connected to the cam shaft 14 and provided with a downwardly. extending intake pipe 20. This pump communicates through a discharge conduit 21 with a longitudinallyextending distributing conduit or manifold 22 formed on a side wall of the crankcase-15. Theman- G5 ifold 22 joins with ducts 23 which lead closed in the United. States Patent Number '75 1,239,778 and comprises a shaft 27 and a sleeve128 which correspond to the shafts D and the'sleeve C disclosed in the patent.

. Mounted on the rear end of the sleeve 28 there is an anti-friction bearing 29 secured e0" inplace by a nut 30. The outer race 31.;of the bearing 30 supports a tightly fitting angulated member 32, the inwardly directed flange of which extends. across'the forward face of the bearing. Secured to the rear 85 face of the race 31 by a plurality of-screws 33, there is a second angulated annular member 34 which cooperates with the member 32 to form a housing for the bearing 29. The

35 and36 which extend into bearing apertures formed inthe'arms of a yoke 37. The yoke 37 is rigidly secured to a lateral rock. shaft 38 journalled in suitable bearings formed in the'lowersection of the transmis' sioncase 39.- As will be readily apparent from the foregoingfdescription and from a study of the aforesaid patent, rotative move 'ment ofitheshaft '38 will shift the; sleeve 28 to engage or disengage the plates of i the .0.

clutch, depending upon the direction of rotatlon.

The transmission case 39 comprises an upper, section 40 and a lower section 41, each of which is formed with a forwardly disposed web 42, a centrally disposed web 43, anda rear end wall 44. Mounted in apertures composed of componental semicircular recesses formed in the webs and end walls of the sections 40 and 41, there are two setsof axially aligned bearings, a left end set-consisting of bearings 45, 46, and 47, and a right end set consisting of bearings 48, 49, and 50. J our:

nalled within the-left end set ofbearings 45,

46, and 47, there is a counter shaft 51, and" with a driven gear rigidly mountedupon the forward'end of the counter shaft 51.

The driven shaft 52 supports a'plurality of loosely mounted gears 56, 57, and 58, which respectively mesh with driving-gears 59, 60, and 61, keyed uponthe countershaft 51. The driven shaft 52 also supports a rigidly attached gear 62 which is adapted to be connected by conventional slidably mounted, reverse idler gear (not shown),-to agear, 63 rigidly mounted upon the countershaft.

As clearly shown in the drawings, the

v loosely mounted gears 56, '57, and 58 are respectively equipped with bearing members 64,65, and 66. Splined upon the forward end of the driven shaft 52, there-is a slidable clutch member 67 which is provided with teeth 68 adapted for engagement with teeth 69 formed on the gear 54, and with teeth 70 adapted for engagement with teeth 71 formed on the gear 56, Similarly mounted upon the central portion of the shaft 52 intermediate the gears57 and 58, there is a second clutch member 72which is provided with teeth 73 adapted for engagement with I teeth 74 formed on the gear157, and with teeth 75 adapted for engagement with teeth 76 formed on the gear 58. A

Assuming that in each case the clutch members 67 and 72 occupy'neut-ralpositions as shown in Figure 2, and that the reverse idler gear is out of mesh with gears 62 and 63, four forward speeds and a single reverse speed are obtained as follows. c c

" First speed, by shifting the clutch member a 72in a rearward direction to bring its teeth 75 into engagement with teeth76 on the gear 58, the resultant drive being through gears 54, 55,'-61, and58.

55, 59, and 56. Y

Secondspeed, by shifting'clutch member 72 in a forward direction to bring its teeth 73 into engagement with the teeth 74 on the gear 57, the resultant drive being through gears 54, 55, 60, and 57. Third speed, by shifting clutch member 67 in a rearward direction to bring its teeth 70 intoengagement with teeth 71 on the gear 56, the resultant drive being through gears 54,

ourth speed-or direct drive, by shifting the clutch 67 in a forward direction to bring its teeth 68 into'engagementwith teeth 69 on e e 5 an Reverse, by shifting the reverse idler gear to a position wherein its teeth mesh with the teeth of the gears 62 and'63, the drive being through gears 54 and 55,'gear 63, the-reverse idler gear, and-gear '62:. 7

The mechanism .for shifting the clutch 'm embers 67 and 7 2 and the reverse idler gearform no part of the present invention and are neither shown or described; 1

Mounted in the end .wall 44 and the-webs 42 and43 of the upper section 40 of the trans mission case 39, there is a distributing conduit or manifold 77 which is connected at its forward end with the pipe 26. This mania fold communicatesthrough ducts 78, 79, and

'80 with ducts 81, 82, and 83, which lead into the counter shaft bearings 45, 46, and 47, respectively. Formed in the driven shaft 52, there is an axially extendingduct 84 which communicates with the duct 79 through a radially extending duct '85 formed in the shaft, a groove 7 86 formed in vthe bearing 49 and. a vertically extending duct 7 9a formedl in-the web 43- of the upper section of the transmission case. lln addition to the radially extending duct 85, the driven shaft 52 is formed with a plurality of similarly extending ducts 87 which 'connectthe duct 84with' the grooves 88 formed in the bearings 53,64,65,and66. .7 1 w 1 As clearly'shown in thedrawings,the'end wall 44 and the webs 42 of the lower section 40 of the transmissioncase 39 forms with theside walls ofthe section a reservoir 89 which receives the oil discharged through the counter shaft bearings 45,46, and 47, the forwarddriven shaft bearing '53, and the bearings 64, and 66'carried by theloo'sely mounted gears 56, 5!, and 58. The reservoir 89communicates through an angulatedconduit 90 formed on the end wall and bot tom wall of-the section 40 with a reservoir 91 formed by the forwardly disposedf portion 92 of'the section 41 and the fly-wheel hous ring 93 of the engine. Formedon the cylindrical wallof'the housing 93 there is an'inwardly extending trough {94 which receives oil thrown up from thereserv0ir'91 by the engine fly-wheelv 95, Extending inwardly from the cylindrical war of, the housing 93 above the trough 94, there 'is 'a -flange 96 case with a trough 101 formed on the side wall of the transmission case. Screwed into the rear end wall of trough 101 there is a pipe 102 which communicates through a duct 103 with the interior of the trough. The pipe 102 extends downward into close'proximity to the mouth of a cup 104 carried by the trunnion 36 of the member 32. 104: communicates with the interior of the bearing 29 by means of a duct 105 formed in the trunnion 36 and a duct 106 formed in the outer race of tie bearing.

When the engine is running, the oil pump 19 draws oil from the oil pan 18, and delivers it under pressure through the inter-communicating conduits 21, 22, 23, 2%, 26, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 79a, 86, 85, 84, and 87 t0 the engine crank shaft and cam shaft bearings 16 and 17 and to the transmission bearings -15, 16, 47, 4,9, 53, 6 1, 65, and 66. Oil .is forcedthrough the engineand transmission bearings, justenumerated, and flows from such bearings into the underlyingreservoirs,

the engine oil pan 18 and the reservoir 89.

in the lower section of the transmission case. lVhenever the level of the oil in the reservoir 89 exceeds the height of the lip 10, of the conduit 90, oil'fiows from the reservoir 89 into the conduit 90 and thence into the reservoir 91 formed by the fiy-wheel housing of the engine and the forwardly disposed portion of the transmission case. The flywheel 95 eff cts the delivery of oil from the reservoir 91 into the. trough Slit formed on the side wall of the engine bell housing 93, and is effective in maintaining the level of the oil in the reservoir 91 below the mouth of the conduit 90. The trough 9 1, due to its angulated bottom wall, divides the oil delivered into it, so that the major portion flows forwardly into the conduit 99, and from there into the engine oil pan 18, the smallportion flowing through the conduit 100, trough 101 and pipe 102 into the cup 10% carried hy the trunnion 36 of the member 32. The oil delivered into the cup 10 1 flows through the ducts 105 and 106 formed respec tively in the trunnion 36 and the outer race of the bearing 29 into the interior of the bearing 29 from whereit seeps to the exterior of the bearing encasing structure and finally drops into the reservoir 91. It should be noted that the oil within the reservoir 89 The cup.

is maintained'at a constant level, even with the'lip 107 of the conduit 90, and that at such level the transmission gears and the antifriction bearings t8 and 50 are partially immersed, thereby providing for lubrication of the teeth of the transmission gears and the wearing surfaces of the bearings 18 and 50.

, Although the foregoing description is necessarily of a detailed character, in order that the invention may be completely set forth, it is to be understood that the specific terminology is not intended to be restrictive or confining, and that variousrearrangements of parts and modifications of structural details may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.

.1 claim as my invention:

1. The combination with the power plant of an automobile comprising an, engine, a clutch and a transmission, of an oilreservoir in said engine, means for delivering oil under pressure from said reservoir to hearings in 7 said transmission, a reservoir in the flywheel housing of sa1d engme communicating with the interior of the transmission housing and receiving oil therefrom, a trough'on the side wall of the engine fly-wheel housing positioned to receive oil thrown up by the engine fly-wheel,means for conveyingoil from said trough to said first named reservoir, and means for conveying oil from said trough to a wearing surface of'said clutch.

2. The combination with the power plant of an automobile comprising anengine and a transmission, of an oil reservoirin said engine, means for delivering oil under pressure from said reservoir to hearings in said transmission, a reservoir in said transmission to receive the oil passing through the afore said hearings, atransmission gear-wheel 8X- tending into said second named reservoir, a reservoir in the flywheel housing of said engine, a conduit leading out of said second named reservoir above thelowerperipheral edge of said transmission gear-wheel and communicating with said third named reser voir, a trough on the side wall of the engine fly-wheel housing positioned to receive oil thrown up by the engine fly-wheel, and means for conveying oil from said trough to said first named reservoir.

3. In combination with a power plant of an automobile comprising an engine, a

clutch, and a transmission, of an oil reservoir in said engine, means for deliveringoil no under pressure from said reservoir to bearlngs 1n said transmlssion, a reservoir in said through theaforesaid hearings, a transmission gear wheel extending into said second named reservoir, a reservoir in the fly-wheel transmission receiving the oil passing housing of said engine, a conduit leading wheel and communicatingwit-h said third named reservoir, a trough on the side Wall of the engine fly-Wheel housing positloned to receive oil thrown up by the engine fiy-wheel,

. meansfor conveying oil from said trough to said first named reservoir, and means for conveying oil from said trough to a Wearing surface of said clutch. 1

In testimony :Whereof I hereunto aflix my signature this 25th day of October,'1929. HAROLD D. CHURCH. 

